You’ll remember the high-stepping, the look back, the wordless taunting.

You’ll remember the interceptions.

On Sunday, the Broncos’ secondary put on a show. It was big play after big play, with safety Rahim Moore and cornerbacks Chris Harris and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie responsible for three of the team’s four interceptions. The much-criticized unit helped the Broncos blast the Redskins 45-21, but it’s not the big plays they’ll remember.

It’s the little things.

Look more closely at the box score, and one number should jump out brighter than those four interceptions. It’s 154, the number of passing yards the Broncos’ secondary allowed to Robert Griffin III and then Kirk Cousins. Before Sunday, the fewest Denver had allowed were 213 yards in a loss in Indianapolis, and this season, even with Sunday’s performance, the Broncos are still allowing 299 per game.

This is progress.

“I think we haven’t really been whole the whole season defensively,” coach John Fox said Monday. “I think our guys hung in there, continued to work hard. … Before yesterday, I thought we were very much more capable of what we had put on tape up to that point. They responded. We challenged them hard and coached them hard, and they practiced hard. I think they saw the fruits of that yesterday.”

Fox is right. Sure, all-pro Champ Bailey has been injured for all but six quarters this season, but even adjusting for his absence, the secondary still underachieved. Before Sunday, the Broncos’ pass defense was dead last in the NFL, and yet it seemed a statistical oddity, that there was too much potential for that to be true. Bailey’s replacement, Harris, has been solid all season, and Rodgers-Cromartie has shown the talent, if not the consistency. The young safeties, too, have shown potential, especially Duke Ihenacho, a second-year pro.

And yet, week after week, the secondary seemed to bang its head against a proverbial wall. Blown coverages, missed tackles, the whole shebang. Even with sack specialist Von Miller back a week ago at Indianapolis, things never seemed to click. Mention to any of the secondary players where the unit stood in NFL ratings and they’d wince. Last, 32nd.

On Sunday, at last, things fell into place.

“I just can’t say how proud I am of those guys, man,” linebacker Wesley Woodyard said of his defensive teammates, primarily the secondary.

One game does not a top-tier secondary make, but Sunday proved that the Broncos have something to work with. They no longer have the worst pass defense in the league — leave that to Dallas; these Broncos jumped to No. 30 — and even that tiny jump is significant. It’s almost hard to blame Rodgers-Cromartie for his high-stepping or Harris for his celebration bow. These players have been the team’s sore spot all season.

Against the Redskins, they sealed the win with both athleticism and poise.

“Nobody panics,” Fox said. “Nobody blinks. You just try to execute.”

Maybe there isn’t reason to say the secondary is fixed. Perhaps not, but there’s reason to trust, to think the secondary may have found its step.